At work with: Lori Woitel

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Business consultant and accountant Lori Woitel takes a moment out of a busy tax-season Saturday to play with Luke. Luke, Woitel's 3-year-old retriever, serves as the office mascot.
Photo by John Hult

Business consultant and accountant Lori Woitel takes a moment out of a busy tax-season Saturday to play with Luke. Luke, Woitel's 3-year-old retriever, serves as the office mascot.

Photo by John Hult

Name: Lori Woitel

Occupation: Business consultant/accountant

Employer: Creative Communication Consulting Inc.

Employed here for: six years as an accountant

“I’ve only been doing the accounting side for maybe six years, but I’ve been in the corporate world for 22 years.”

Alaskan since: 1984

Originally from: Tilamook, Ore.

“I was raised on a real working dairy farm.”

What made you decide to move here? “Johnny Horton music and Jack London stories.”

“It’s mostly relationship-building, teaching (clients) how to do business. A lot of people have a really good skill, let’s say they’re a welder: Just because they’re good at welding doesn’t mean they’d be good at running a welding business. The administration end is why most businesses fail.”

What do you like about your job? “I like helping people. I really like helping them understand how business works.”

What is the biggest challenge of your job? “Explaining to someone who owns a business that the money they’re making really isn’t theirs, that their business entity is its own entity. You can’t just spend the money however you want to.”

Is that something you run into weekly, daily? “Daily. They think that if they make money and they do the work they should get to say how it’s spent, but it has to be within the rules of the IRS. That doesn’t matter if you’re a sole proprietor or a corporation.”

Does having Luke around help to ease tensions? “It does. Most people really like dogs, and he’s a sweetheart, so he’s kind of our office mascot. A lot of people feel they can bring their children in here, so Luke keeps them entertained and plays with them.”